My time with the Mark Levinson No. 53 amps

AMP

Member
Feb 27, 2011
299
2
16
Rather than tack listening impressions onto the end of my prior post I decided to start up a new one to discuss the ML 53s now that I'm gaining some first-hand experience.

-----

I picked up the ML 53s from my dealer yesterday and loaded them into the system last night. As I was coming from the VTL MB-450s I needed to make a couple of other changes in addition to the amplifiers.

My speaker cables are Transparent Reference XL MM2 and are calibrated for the VTLs. After discussing the evaluation with Transparent it was decided that the speaker cables should be changed out as well given the fact that the network specs for the VTLs are vastly different than the 53s. The only cables that my dealer had which were calibrated for the ML 53s were a pair of Reference MM (which is the next step up in the Transparent line). I'm trying to keep this in mind as I perform my evaluation.

Second, the VTLs use 20A IEC power connections and the 53s use 15A. I use Transparent PLMM MM1 cables for the VTLs (top end, one generation old), but availability forced me to use PowerLink Super (mid range, current generation).

As it stands now the system is setup as follows:

Wadia S7i CD player
VTL TL-7.5 Series III Preamp
Basis 2800 table / Vector 4 arm / Air Tight PC-1 Supreme cartridge
VTL TP-6.5 Phono preamp
Mark Levinson No. 53 amplifiers
Rockport Aquila speakers

Interconnects are all Transparent Reference XL MM2 (balanced)
Speaker cables are Transparent Reference MM2

Physical Details

The 53s aren't as physically massive as I had expected, but they are still heavy at 135lbs each. They're about 9 inches wide by 20 inches tall and 20 inches deep. From the exterior build quality appears to be excellent with little ringing from the heat sinks and absolutely no flex in the chassis. They look great in my room. Having witnessed the No. 33 and 33H in person in the past these look downright small in comparison.

Connection is pretty straightforward with power, speaker, and signal connections arranged vertically in that order from the bottom of the amplifier up. In general I'm not fond of the arrangement of the connections on the rear panel as the speaker terminals are too close to the power connection. This makes it very difficult to route the speaker cables away from the power cord as the pig tails on the Transparent cables are short and very stiff.

Once wired up there's a main power switch on the rear panel and a standby button on the front. When powered up and active the Mark Levinson logo glows red.

Given the massive heat sinks I was expecting these to at least run warm, but was surprised to find that the temperature remained fairly constant regardless of load. The amps run slightly warm to the touch and the best equivalent that I can come up with is a household heating pad set on low. Compared to the VTLs, which could heat my living room at idle, these are ice cold.

First Listening Impressions

First off, please keep in mind that I've had 3 different VTL MB-450 iterations in my system and the observations that I make below about their quirks and performance remained constant over all 3. In other words, if I mention noise I'm extremely confident that there's nothing wrong with the VTL as all three behaved similarly.

I spent about 4 hours with the 53s last night and as such can't make any definitive judgement of the sound yet. I can, however, relay some of my initial impressions.

The first thing that I noticed was the fact that the 53s have less apparent gain than the VTLs simply based on where I need to set the volume on the preamp to achieve familiar listening levels. With the VTL I would typically listen with the volume control set at about 35% to 45%, but with the 53s I had the volume up to 60% to get a familiar listening level with familiar material.

I've never run the VTL preamp with a non-VTL amplifier so I have little basis for comparison, but I always felt like the MB-450s were operating with a significant amount of gain. The change from mute to level 1 (out of 99) on the preamp would always result in output that was clearly audible and not quiet. This always bothered me as I felt that I was never in the gain sweet spot of the preamp.

Once music was playing I immediately noticed the absence of noise. The MB-450s always produced an audible hiss from the speakers which was never objectionable and what I would consider to be par for the course for tubes. With the 53s in place the difference was pronounced and the only way that I can describe it is as a total absence of noise. Not only were the amps dead quiet at idle they produced a sound which appeared to be completely absent of any contribution from the amplifier.

To use an often overused audiophile statement: The background was completely black with noticeable space around performers. I've always laughed at this statement, but I'll eat crow with the 53s. There's nothing there but the signal and to my ears the noise floor is so low that I'm clearly hearing things which my brain was never able to fully assimilate in the past.

As many have stated here and elsewhere power seems to be unlimited. I never experienced any sign of the amps breaking up nor did I ever feel that dynamic passages were being compressed. Granted, I didn't turn the volume up to unreasonable levels, but in the listening I did I got the impression that the 53s weren't working very hard at all. This is a quality which I have never experienced in the past regardless of amplifier technology (with a possible exception of the VTL Siegfrieds). No signs of strain, no glare, no harshness, and simply no audible traces of the limits of the amplifiers.

My final observation was that there was a tremendous amount of detail on tap and I think that this is a combination of the Levinson house sound mixed with unlimited power and the absence of noise. In the gee-whiz audiophile department I could hear numerous artifacts of the recording venues and processes which I've never heard before. One such example is musicians milling about and turning pages of the score during Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. I've always heard this artifact in the past and primarily filtered it out as background noise, but with the 53s it wasn't some rustling in the background it was actual people moving about, shifting their bodies, and turning pages. Not only was this activity clearly audible, it was produced by multiple people spread out over the soundstage (although the string bass and cellos were the worst offenders). Truly incredible.

I have a lot more to convey, but will save that for a later post as I need to continue my evaluation and contemplate what I'm hearing.

Right now I'm pondering two questions:

1) Is this level of hyper-detail an advantage or disadvantage? In many cases I found myself paying more attention to the details and ignoring the presentation as a whole. I'm familiar with this as a side-effect of my evaluation process, but with the ML 53s it's extreme. In some cases I was getting distracted by audible reflections within the recording space rather than paying attention to the actual instruments or appreciating the entire performance.

2) Do I like the ML 53s? The jury is out on this one. I can really appreciate them and what they can do, but I'm not sure yet if I even like what they are doing. This will take some time.

In closing, my past impression of Levinson's reference sound has been one of hyper detail and I'd say that this carries over to the 53s. In the past I was involved in a discussion about the 33 with a comment that went along the lines of, "Rather than presenting a violin section as a massed group of strings the Levinson presents a group of individual violins." The 53 possesses much of the same behavior.
 
Last edited:

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Great review. Thanks for the detailed write up.

As to your ending question, it is easy to muck up the sound to remove the transparency. It is hard to put in when it is not there :). Like you, if pushed to provide subjective assessment, I would say the amplifier is extremely neutral and the closest thing to a wire with gain that I have heard. That, and its gorgeous case is all I ask for in an amp I am putting on display and listen to in my home :D. If I were not so cheap when it came to spending money at times :D :D, I would be doing exactly that. Can't say I have not been tempted to take our units home for that reason at times.
 

AMP

Member
Feb 27, 2011
299
2
16
Like you, if pushed to provide subjective assessment, I would say the amplifier is extremely neutral and the closest thing to a wire with gain that I have heard. That, and its gorgeous case is all I ask for in an amp I am putting on display and listen to in my home :D.


It definitely ticks all of the *audiophile* boxes, but I have to pause and decide whether or not it ticks the music lover boxes as well.


As I commented to my dealer, in some ways it's not allowing me to see the forest for the trees. I can tell you all kinds of details about what the trees look and smell like, but may have lost perspective on the overall beauty of the forest.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
3,711
723
1,200
San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
AMP,

I know that feeling of first hearing "hyper detail". My impression is that there's gear out there that'll do detail for detail's sake. I don't know if this is ML 53's case, as I haven't heard it. But there's tons of (specially) amps out there that do that.
At first it can be very addictive, all that detail, hearing the strenght in which notes and strings are played, etc. But if the amp doesn't bring along the actual music with all that detail, I agree that it's all for nothing. Fortunately, I found gear that does just that, hyper detail, when I need or want to pay attention to that, and sheer musical joy, when all I want is to play some tunes.
So, if you dig that detail at all, don't give up on it or sacrifice it for some musicality. You can have both :)


cheers,
alexandre
 

AMP

Member
Feb 27, 2011
299
2
16
I've now spent considerable time with the 53s given the short overall period that they've been in my system and I have a much better handle on how they are performing in my system

To pickup where I left off I posed two questions.


1) Is this level of hyper-detail an advantage or disadvantage? In many cases I found myself paying more attention to the details and ignoring the presentation as a whole. I'm familiar with this as a side-effect of my evaluation process, but with the ML 53s it's extreme. In some cases I was getting distracted by audible reflections within the recording space rather than paying attention to the actual instruments or appreciating the entire performance.

2) Do I like the ML 53s? The jury is out on this one. I can really appreciate them and what they can do, but I'm not sure yet if I even like what they are doing. This will take some time.


I'm going to have to either retract or modify the first question as with time I've noted some changes in the behavior of the 53s. My original post was based on a listening session on Thursday evening which lasted about 4 hours and during that time I found myself amazed by the level of detail, but not drawn into the music. I left the amps powered on overnight and through the next day and by Friday evening I found a significantly different presentation. The detail was all still there, but it came with much more ease and seemed much more natural. After about 20 minutes I stopped listening to the stereo and got into the music. This continued for well over 5 hours at which point it was 1:30am and I forced myself to go to bed.

Saturday morning I started spinning LPs and didn't stop until about 4:00PM. Again, the first 20 minutes of this session found me switching from listening to the system and back to enjoying the music. The character of the amps had changed from one of squeaky-clean detail to a full and natural-sounding presentation.

My logical explanation as to why this is happening is heat. On Thursday I noted that the amps were slightly warm to the touch, but upon revisiting them prior to my Friday session they were very warm -- to the point that the area around them was noticeably warmer than the rest of the room. After about 20 - 30 minutes of play their temperature decreased back to the slightly warm level and continued that way throughout the session. Keep in mind that class D amps are most efficient when playing and this temperature behavior is something that I had noticed on my Rowland 301s in the past. The harder I pushed them, the less heat they put out. Come Saturday morning they were back up to very warm, but quickly cooled as they were played.

My assumption here is that it took some time (greater than Thursday's listening session) for all of the components to come up to temperature and stabilize. Coming from cold they had a sterile presentation, but that behavior went away once they had settled in. During subsequent sessions they still needed to adjust from their idle temperature to their operating temperature.

I asked my dealer for his impressions of how much time the 53s needed to sound their best and he came back with, "They need to idle for a day and until they're stable they're not going to sound right. Once warm they need about 30 minutes of play to sound their best and after left overnight they'll need that time again. Overall, the more they are used the better they sound." This was all relayed without providing any information of what I had discovered in my own listening which either means we're both crazy (entirely possible) or the 53s really do need some time to wake up.

So, back to that first question. I think the question is still valid, but I probably wouldn't have asked it had I waited 24 hours. All of that detail is still there, but all of the subtle harmonics have flowed in as well and that's led to a very pleasing presentation. On Thursday it was like I was staring at a line drawing. Very crisp and stark and although I could recognize all of the shapes in great resolution it didn't look (sound) real. With some warm-up time the same drawing became expertly shaded and gained significant realism.

OK, enough of that. How do they sound now?

They sound like nothing. They are neither warm nor cold, neither etched nor euphoric, neither grainy nor smooth, neither sweet nor sterile. As far as I can tell they have no sonic signature of their own. Play a harmonically-rich recording and they faithfully feed that to the speakers with gain. Play an over-processed studio recording and they ship it off to the speakers unmolested.

I've been in this hobby since the late 80s and have NEVER experienced anything like this. Every component adds a sonic signature and next to speakers amplifiers are the point in the chain where this signature can be be easily heard. Designers boast about their extensive time of listening and "voicing" the components. Audiophiles and reviewers make comparisons using nonsensical adjectives in order to try and explain the signature using a common language. As far as I can tell the 53s have no signature.

All of the detail which I marveled at initially is still there, but now its in a proper context and is purely additive to the experience rather than distracting. This is double-edged sword as it has allowed my analog section to shine brighter than I've experienced in the past, but it's also shown me the limits of my digital side. In the past I was pleased that although LPs sounded better in my system the difference wasn't so great that CDs sounded deficient. Ahh, the story of the unintended upgrade... I'm borrowing a Wadia Model 9 system this week :D

Power appears to be limitless, noise is almost non-existent, speaker control is some of the best I've experienced, and they neither add nor subtract anything from the signal. Sounds like the perfect amplifier to me!

Now onto the second question: do I like the 53s?

YES! Yes, as in you can pry them from my cold dead hands!

I have had tremendous fun listening to music and re-discovering my collection over the past couple of days. Yesterday was the first time I've spun an LP since summer of 2011 and I couldn't get enough. The system is sounding better than it ever has and I'm rediscovering the pleasure I used to take in listening. Faults in my system that I used to find have been eliminated or vastly reduced.

Well, there you have it. I'm loving the 53s and I've taken my love of music and audio off of life support. Overall a very productive weekend considering I did absolutely nothing.
 

AMP

Member
Feb 27, 2011
299
2
16
Power appears to be limitless, noise is almost non-existent, speaker control is some of the best I've experienced, and they neither add nor subtract anything from the signal. Sounds like the perfect amplifier to me!

Curious about what that means to you or how you determined it?


I'm referring to the amplifier's ability to reproduce a dynamic passage into a difficult load without breaking up or sounding muddy. Tight or fast are descriptors which come to mind. I came to this conclusion by comparing the behavior of the 53s to the MB-450s as well as my memory of many other systems I've heard (my own and those of others).
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
8,677
23
0
Amp, congratulations on a great find. Nobody seems to be able to describe the sound of good, powerful solid state amplification in complete control of speakers better than someone coming right off of tubes. I remember whem Mark (mep) went throught this. I read his early revelations and nodded my head in agreement. Whether you get the control through active systems or through amplification powerful enough to be unphased by the impedance swings of your passive speakers, it is, IMO, exactly as you have described. Some love it. Some don't. But it is well worth a listen.

By the way, I expect the evolution of your listening experience had more to do with you than it did with heat. I suspect you stopped listening to the amps and started listening to the music. When you do, the clarity and control don't sound "etched." They just sound open, clear, well-defined; more like music in the air, less like hifi in a sound stage. At least that's what I hear. YMMV.

Enjoy.

Tim
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Nah. :p
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Mine (Bel Canto) like to be left on 24/7 they are of course cheapos by comparison. Maybe the 53s only need a day, I dunno, don't own a pair. :D
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
4,698
2,790
Portugal
I'm referring to the amplifier's ability to reproduce a dynamic passage into a difficult load without breaking up or sounding muddy. Tight or fast are descriptors which come to mind. I came to this conclusion by comparing the behavior of the 53s to the MB-450s as well as my memory of many other systems I've heard (my own and those of others).

I had great experiences with Mark Levinson gear in the past - they seem to keep the high-end flag on!

The ML53 is much more powerful than the VAC450s, and there is something right with the reproduction of deep bass frequencies of class D amplifiers - in this aspect they outclass most of the competition, analogical SS or tubes. I felt the same with the Devialet in my system, but for my particular taste and system it was not the preferred solution. Happy that the ML53 matches your system and preference. As I said elsewhere, diversity is one of the good things of high end. The world would be a darker place if all of us only enjoyed tube amplifiers (or AV receivers, BTW. ;) ).
 

AMP

Member
Feb 27, 2011
299
2
16
By the way, I expect the evolution of your listening experience had more to do with you than it did with heat. I suspect you stopped listening to the amps and started listening to the music. When you do, the clarity and control don't sound "etched." They just sound open, clear, well-defined; more like music in the air, less like hifi in a sound stage. At least that's what I hear. YMMV.

I do agree with this up to a point. I learned a long time ago that I hate screwing around with the stereo and as much as I like to cart in a new component I really dislike the compare / contrast and tweak the setup aspect of it. Over the years I discovered that all of the time I was spending switching between components in order to classify differences and improvements took all of the fun out of it. Music is an emotional experience and if I'm not getting drawn in then something isn't right.

Now when I install a new component I play a couple of tracks of one of my reference discs in order to try and evaluate the "different" part then I typically pull out something I haven't listened to in a while so that I can start with the enjoyment part. I remain mindful of how long it takes to get sucked in to the point where I stop worrying about whether or not it sounds good. This has been an excellent test for me and has allowed me to quickly eliminate components which just don't appeal. Over the years I've found that my personal tastes gravitate toward neutral.

With the 53s I didn't get sucked in at all in the first night and that was very disappointing. I could really appreciate what they could do, but I wasn't enjoying myself. I didn't have high hopes for Friday and honestly started listening more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. In about 30 minutes my mind cleared and I was simply enjoying the music. Again, this may all be psychological, but I really do believe that the system sounded far more natural after a period of warm-up.

Given that I have limited time to listen and the fact that I take little pleasure in the experimentation aspect of the hobby I'm not fond of the idea of shutting them down for a day in order to test my hypothesis. I can't leave them on forever, though, so next time I do power them down and let them cool I'll see what happens in the next session.

My dealer picked up the 450s yesterday and dropped off the Wadia 9 series. Wow.

Anyone willing to pay top dollar for a fully functional kidney?
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
On the power delivery and lack of "need" for high efficiency speakers, I have not been able to rationalize my subjective and objective sides on that :). With our Revel Salon 2s the extra juice from the 53 was definitely needed to drive them to peak performance. When we got our hands on the JBL Everest Speakers, with a whopping 10 db higher efficiency, we thought it would not be needed. But we were wrong. The combination of these two was amazing. The dynamics would scare you out of your pants! As I reported in my original report on the Everest (http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?3426-Houston-the-Eagle-has-landed!-JBL-Everest-Speaker), there was snow in our showroom courtesy of the system shaking the dropped ceiling to pieces. So either I am going deaf or even with efficient speakers, infinite amount of power is still better than not. :)
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
8,677
23
0
On the power delivery and lack of "need" for high efficiency speakers, I have not been able to rationalize my subjective and objective sides on that :). With our Revel Salon 2s the extra juice from the 53 was definitely needed to drive them to peak performance. When we got our hands on the JBL Everest Speakers, with a whopping 10 db higher efficiency, we thought it would not be needed. But we were wrong. The combination of these two was amazing. The dynamics would scare you out of your pants! As I reported in my original report on the Everest (http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?3426-Houston-the-Eagle-has-landed!-JBL-Everest-Speaker), there was snow in our showroom courtesy of the system shaking the dropped ceiling to pieces. So either I am going deaf or even with efficient speakers, infinite amount of power is still better than not. :)

Better. Always. Do you have an opinion on warm-up and Class D?

Tim
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Better. Always. Do you have an opinion on warm-up and Class D?

Tim

I have never heard any electronics that I thought didn't sound better after having been 'on' for a period of time and playing music during the warm-up period.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Better. Always. Do you have an opinion on warm-up and Class D?

Tim
This amp has a constant temp circuit so I would probably let it get to that point since likely they have optimized for that temp. I have powered it on from cold and did not notice degradation.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Better. Always. Do you have an opinion on warm-up and Class D?

Tim

Just curious as to why you frame your questions around Class D when the optimal operating temp range of the power transistors and not that of the power supply is the issue.
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
8,677
23
0
Just curious as to why you frame your questions around Class D when the optimal operating temp range of the power transistors and not that of the power supply is the issue.

Class D runs cool, relatively speaking. The transistors should be optimized for low operating temps, and while, in my experience, they can get somewhat hot if you leave them on for hours, it takes a long time for them to get there and I hope, at least, that's not what they're optimized for. I wouldn't guarantee that logic is sound, but that's it, nonetheless.

Tim
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Not according to this month's SP where they panned the No. 53.
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing